Klout and Bit.ly... what they do and do they help? Here are some answers...

Klout
First what is klout?  Klout measures your influence online. When you create content or engage, you impact others. Klout analyzes this impact to find your score, your influential topics, and your influencers.

Wait, what is a klout score? You ask. The Klout Score measures your influence on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the most. It uses data from social networks in order to measure how many people you influence (called your True Reach), how much you influence them (your Amplification) and how much they are (your Network Score).

True reach is the number of people you influence, meaning how many are acting on your content.

Amplification  is how much you influence people. For instance how many respond to your messages (blog posts, tweets, FB posts) and share.

Network is the influnence of the people in your true reach. How often do your top ones share and respond to your content.

More about Klout


Is Klout really important?

Klout measures value. The value of content and ranking of your relevance in the social web. If you are looking to establish yourself for a particular area, you can use your Klout score to see how you're  doing and use it to help you  adjust what you do on the social web to achieve your goals. This doesn't mean you have to stop the irrelevant things you do, but you may want to think before you tweet or post something is all.

Now that you have an idea about Klout...something to keep in mind...

Don't let yourself get sucked into Klout. After you set up your account with them, you are notified it will  take 24-48 hours before you get your inital score. So in the mean time you score starts of low (the average is 10). As much as this is a ego bubble pop, don't let it bother you. Wait a few days and check back.

My score started at a 19, and within a few months I reached 50. So with that said, don't think to overly hard about the next thing your blog about or a tweet you share. Don't sweat it too much. It is a great way to keep track and aim for a goal, but don't let it define you. You have to decide how much  you want to participate. There are lots of ways in which Klout will help you raise your score (+k's), so don't sweat it too much. When you set up your account Klout will ask you to connect either or both your Twitter and Facebook accounts. This will help your score rise, but it will also be broadcasting Klout through your social networks. You will be given the opprotunity to invite friends too to Klout, but you may want to think on that first before you send out any invites. Would your friends like that?  Some may, but some may not find Klout anything benificial to them, so if you do invite, pick wisely.

Now once you have your score, try to limit your checking in. Don't let the score get the best of you. Doing the things Klout suggests you do to raise your score, will raise it, but how much of an annoyance will it be to your social connections in return? And how high do you really need your score to be?

Bit.ly.

Now what is Bit.ly and what can it do for me?

On Twitter or even blogs where you see links, you may have noticed the links are very short. Ever wonder how that was accomplished? Ever wish you had more room in your tweets? Using Bit.ly helps you do thatand its FREE. You go there, paste your html and press shorten. It shorten's your link to the extreme. Many tweeters use this and love it, but Bit.ly doesn't stop just there. You can go past using its shorten bar and sign up (again FREE) where every link you paste and shorten will be put in your link and bundle history. Bit.ly is another tool that it can help you measure the amount of social media reach that you have.

Why use it?

Any link you post on your account is tracked. Stats are generated from that as to how many people click your link, how many people visit, and when they visit over time. With these stats you can get a feel for how your links are received and determined, if you are doing well or need to put more effort.

How do you figure out Bit.ly?

Once you shorten a link and it is sent to your bundle, you will see a top number and a number below it. The top one is the number of times people have clicked on your link. The bottom number is the number of times people have visited the page your bit.ly link points to (based on other users who use bit.ly). This ratio gives you an idea of your social reach and the engagement of your community with your brand. Remember perspective in this. How many people click, whether just a few isn't bad, it depends on your brand. If your selling something then your numbers will be higher. If your a blogger like me, well ten clicks isn't so bad. Like with Klout don't let yourself get hung up on the numbers, they are after all just indicators.

Other social media sources:
Feedburner
Hootsuite
Tweetdeck



Thanks for dropping in,